Vault air valve

ABSTRACT

A CLOSABLE AIR INLET ASSEMBLY, OFTEN KNOWN AS A &#34;VAULT AIR VALVE,&#34; FOR VENTILATING A BANK VAULT OR THE LIDE IS DISCLOSED. THE ASSEMBLY FEATURES A HORIZONTALLY SLIDING, DOORLIKE CLOSURE WHICH IS SUSPENDED IN SUCH MANNER THAT, EVEN WHEN THE ASSEMBLY IS PLACED IN THE FLOOR, CEILING OR SIDE WALL OF A VAULT, THE HEAVY DOOR MAY BE READILY SLID OPEN OR CLOSED BY A RELATIVELY SMALL ELECTRIC MOTOR. THE DOOR IS NORMALLY OPENED AND CLOSED FROM AN ELECTRICAL CONTROL PANEL WITHIN THE VAULT, AND A SOLENOID ACTIVATED LATCH POSITIVELY MAINTAINS THE DOOR IN ITS CLOSED POSITION. AN AUXILIARY ELECTRICAL CONTROL PANEL IS DISPOSED OUTSIDE THE VAULT BUT IS CAPABLE ONLY OF CLOSING THE DOOR. A HAND WHEEL IS INCLUDED WITHIN THE VAULT SO THAT THE DOOR MAY BE MANUALLY CLOSED, BUT NOT OPENED, IN THE EVENT OF POWER FAILURE.   D R A W I N G

Feb. 6, 1973 y L, CUTTER 3,714,910

VAULT AIR VALVE Original Filed June 25. 1969 s Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG I FIG3 1..V/iJ-Kl'0k.

LARRY 1. CUTTER "uzmffmw ATTORNEY L. I. CUTTER 3,714,910

VAULT AIR VALVE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 6, 1973 Original Filed June 25.1.969

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ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,714,910 VAULT AIR VALVE Larry I.Cutter, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, assignor to Walter Kidde & Company, Inc.,Clifton, NJ. Continuation of abandoned application Ser. No. 836,260,June 25, 1969. This application Apr. 29, 1971, Ser.

Int. Cl. E0619 3/46 US. Cl. 10973 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Aclosable air inlet assembly, often known as a vault air valve, forventilating a bank vault or the like is disclosed. The assembly featuresa horizontally sliding, doorlike closure which is suspended in suchmanner that, even when the assembly is placed in the floor, ceiling orside wall of a vault, the heavy door may be readily slid open or closedby a relatively small electric motor. The door is normally opened andclosed from an electrical control panel within the vault, and a solenoidactivated latch positively maintains the door in its closed position. Anauxiliary electrical control panel is disposed outside the vault but iscapable only of closing the door. A hand wheel is included within thevault so that the door may be manually closed, but not opened, in theevent of power failure.

This application is a continuation of abandoned application Ser. No.836,260, filed June 25, 1969.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventional vault air valves typicallyemploy a slotted, counterbalanced cylinder which rotates about its axisto open and close the air inlet to the vault. Such cylinders arerelatively very heavy and costly to manufacture and have been used,rather than relatively lighter and much cheaper sliding doors, becauseheretofore the latter have not been suspended in a manner such that theymay be readily moved by the relatively small electric motors to whichsuch installations, as a practical matter, are limited because of space.The movement of the door must, in view of its weight, be horizontal, nomatter in what wall of the vault the assembly is placed. Yet even so,the friction encountered by conventional forms of mounting a door forhorizontal, sliding movement has been too great for the limited sizedelectric motors to surmount. Hence, as mentioned, the practice hasnecessarily been to use the even heavier and much more costlycounterbalanced cylinder. Accordingly, the primary object of the presentinvention is the provision of a vault air valve which employs ahorizontally sliding door suspended in such a manner that it may bemoved by a relatively small electric motor, together with appropriatecircuitry for controlling operation of the motor and the door.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Essentially the horizontally sliding door ofthe present invention travels on a pair of spaced cylindrical ways,horizontally disposed, and is suspended on the latter by means of twopairs of ball bushings which permit relatively friction-free linear,rather than rotary, movement of the door relative to the ways. Thedooris much lighter in weight than a typical cylindrical door having anequivalent air inlet opening and is moved back and forth by a horizontalrack carried by the door which is driven by a relatively smallreversible electric motor and gear train. A hand wheel is provided forclosing the door in the event of power failure, and a latching mechanismpositively locks the door in its closed position until a latch bolt iswithdrawn upon activation of a solenoid. Hence the hand wheel alonecannot open the door but only close ice it. A three position, rockerswitch is located on a panel in the vault. In one of its circuit-makingpositions, that switch activates the motor and the latch solenoid,withdrawing the latch plunger, to open the door, whereupon a secondswitch closes to activate a signal lamp to indicate the door is open andat the same time sets up the motor reversing circuit for closing thedoor. When the door opening movement is complete, a third switch opensthe circuit to the motor. The other circuit-making position of therocker switch closes an alternate circuit to the motor through thesecond switch to reverse the same and close the door, the latter circuitand that to the signal lamp being broken by opening of the second switchupon completion of the door closing. A fourth switch and another signallight are located on a panel outside the vault, the latter switch beingwired in parallel with the door closing circuit only of the first switchso that the door may be closed, but not opened, from outside the vault.Finally, a fifth switch, closed by opening movement of the door,activated an alarm system operative during off-hours should an attemptbe made to open the air valve during such time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional viewthrough a wall of a typical vault illustrating a top plan view or avault air valve according to the present invention installed therein.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the vault air valve of FIG. 1 showing itsappearance from within the vault.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of the vault air valve assembly itself, withthe inside cover plates removed, showing the door in its fully closedposition.

FIG. -5 is similar to FIG. 4 but illustrates the door in its fully openposition.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 4,details of the door latching mechanism being omitted for purposes ofclarity.

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 4illustrating the door latching mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of the electrical circuit by whichopening and closing of the door is controlled.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The air inlet assembly includesan elongated, rectangular housing 10 having a bottom wall 11, top wall12 and end walls 13 and 14 of suitable steel plate appropriately lapwelded to each other. The outer or rear wall 15 overhangs the other fourWalls and is relatively much thicker, consisting of a laminate formed ofa copper plate disposed between two steel plates as is customary inorder to frustrate penetration of the rear wall 15 by cutting torches.The housing 10 is divided, somewhat asymmetrically, into a left-hand,with respect to the drawings, machinery compartment 16 and a right-handair ducting compartment 17 by means of a thick, upright steel partitionplate 18 secured to a pair of lower and upper angle brackets 19 fixed inturn to the inner faces of the bottom and top walls 11 and 12,respectively. The portion of wall 15 forming the rear of compartment 17is rectangularly centrally apertured to provide an air inlet 20. Theentire housing 10 is typically disposed horizontally in the wall 21 of avault and suitable duct work 22 leads therethrough from a source offresh air to the air inlet 20.

The rear edge of partition plate 18 is spaced forwardly of the innerface of the rear Wall 15 in order to accommodate a pair of verticallyspaced, horizontally disposed ways 25, in the form of cylindrical bars,whose respective ends are mounted in two pairs of pillow blocks 26secured to the inner face of rear wall closely adjacent the bottom andtop walls 11 and 12, the ways extending nearly the entire width ofhousing 10. The ways 25, in turn, support a rectangular plate door 27disposed therebetween, the door 27 being also of laminate constructionlike rear wall 15, and in close face-to-face relation thereto. The door27 is fitted for horizontal sliding movement along and between ways 25by means of two spaced pairs of finger brackets 28 recessed in theforward face of door 27 and extending vertically beyond its upper andlower edges, the outer end of each bracket 28 carrying a linear ballbearing 29 through which passes one of the ways 25. The linear ballbearings 29 permit relatively friction-free passage of the door 27horizontally back and forth along ways 25 and are manufactured byThomson Industries, Inc. of Manhasset, N.Y., and sold under thetrademark Ball Bushings. Movement of the door 27 is accomplished bymeans of a horizontally extending, downward turned rack 30, secured tothe inner face of door 27 just above its lower edge, the rack 30 beingdriven by a pinion gear 31 carried on one end of a transverse shaft 32journaled between a pair of spaced upright members 33 which aresurmounted by a platform plate 34 and submounted by a base plate 35secured to the bottom wall 11. Intermediate the uprights 33 a bevel gear36 is fixed to the shaft '32 which engages a similar gear 37 driven by alow torque, reversible electric motor M and gear box of any suitablesort mounted vertically atop the platform plate 34. The other end ofshaft 32 is carried out beyond housing 10 and fitted with a suitablehandwheel 38. Hence, rotation of motor M or handwheel 38 in eitherdirection will cause the rack 30 and pinion 31 to move door 27horizontally to and fro to expose or close, as the case may be, the airinlet 20' in the rear wall 15; however, a latching mechanism next to bedescribed is provided to prevent the door 27 from being opened by eithermotor M or handwheel 38 until the latch is released.

The latching mechanism comprises an angle 40 fitted to the inner face ofdoor 27 adjacent its upper left-hand corner, with respect to FIGS. 4 and5, the angle 40 having a horizontal latch plate 41 extending forwardlytherefrom and beveled as indicated at 42 along its right-hand edge. Asolenoid S is mounted to the left-hand face of partition plate 18 withits armature 43 vertically disposed and connected by a suitable linkage44 to the lower end of a latch bolt 45 slidable in a vertical borethrough a steady block 46 mounted by a bracket 47 to the left-hand faceof partition plate 18 above the solenoid S and in alignment with itsarmature 43. The armature 43, linkage 44 and latch bolt 45 are upwardlybiased so that as the door 27 closes, the bevel 42 of the latch plate 41depresses the latch bolt 45 in order that it may engage an aperture 48in the latch plate 41, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 7. Hence, when in itsclosed position, the door 27 cannot be opened either by motor M orhandwheel 38 until the solenoid S is activated, as hereinafterdescribed. To the top face of latch plate 41 is fixed a switch operatingplate 49 having a tang 50 extending forwardly from the inner face ofdoor 27 to beyond latch plate 41 for purposes to be hereafter described.Finally, the exposed portions of ways 25 in the compartment 17 areenclosed by a pair of removable U-shaped channels 51 of sheet metal, theupper one only being shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, mounted by means of handscrews 52 to a pair of blocks 53 disposed forward of ways 25 on thebottom and top walls 11 and 12. The open side of compartments 16 and 17is closed by a pair of abutting cover plates 54 and 55, the latter onebeing apertured at 56 congruent and in alignment with the aperture 20 inthe rear wall 15 for passage of air into the vault when the door 27 isopen.

The electrical control circuitry for opening and closing the door 27 isdisposed partly within the machinery compartment 16 and partly on a pairof control panels CP-l and CP-2, as indicated in FIG. 8. One side of themotor M and solenoid S are wired in parallel by leads 60 and 61 into oneside of a typical v. AC power source entering CP-l and connected intocompartment 16 through a suitable terminal block T, the panel CP-l beingmounted within the vault adjacent housing 10 while the panel CP2 ismounted outside the vault adjacent its door. The panels CP-l and CP-2also mount a pair of indicator lamps L-1 and L-2 connected in parallelinto the other side of the power source by leads 62 and 63. To the lead63 is also connected the terminals A-1 and B-1 of the conjoint switcharms of a three-position, D.P.D.T. rocker switch SW-l mounted on CP-l.When the switch arms of SW-l are in mid-position (as shown) no circuitis made through any of the switchcontacts A-2, 13-2 or B-3, the contactA3 being unused; the circuit through contacts A-2 and B-2 are momentarywhile that with contacts A-3 and B-3 is maintained. The lead 63 is alsoconnected to terminal A-l of the switch arm of a normally open, S.P.S.T.rocker switch SW-2 mounted on panel CP-2, the circuit through whosecontact A2 is maintained, the latter contact being connected by lead 64to the contact B-3 of SW-l. The contact A-2 of SW-1 is wired in seriesby lead 65 to the other side of the solenoid S; the contact B-2 of thesame switch is wired in series by lead 66 through a normally closed,S.P.S.T. microswitch SW-3 mounted on the bottom wall 11 in thecompartment 16 so that SW-3 is opened when its switch arm SW-3a isdepressed by the lower edge of the door 27 while the latter is in itsfully open position (see FIG. 5); and the contact B-3 of SW-1 is wiredin series by lead 67 to the terminal B-1 of the conjoint switch arm of anormally closed, D.P.S.T. microswitch SW-4 vertically mounted on thebracket 47 forward of the steady block 46 such that the tang 50 engagesthe switch arm SW-4a of SW-4 to hold the latter open when the door 27 isin its closed position SW-3 and the switch contact B-2 of- SW4 are wiredin parallel by leads 68 and 69, between which is a capacitor C mountedon the bottom wall 11 in the compartment 16, into the forward andreverse windings of the motor M for respectively opening and closing thedoor 27.'The switch arm terminal A-l of SW-4 is wired in series by leads70 and 71 to the other sides of lamps L-1 and L-2 while the switchcontact A-2 of SW-4 is connected by lead 72 to the lead 60. Finally, anormally closed, S.P.S.T. microswitch SW-5 is mounted on the under faceof the top wall 12 so that it is held closed by engagement of its switcharm SW-5a and the upper face of the switch operating plate 49 when thedoor 27 is in its closed position. SW-5 is wired in series as indicatedwith an alarm circuit (not shown) so that any unauthorized opening ofdoor 27 during off-hours will activate the alarm when the operatingplate 49 disengages from the switch arm SW-Sa as the door 27 is moved.Of course, during normal banking hours, the alarm circuit is otherwisedeactivated. With the alarm circuit deactivated, therefore, operation ofthe vault air valve is as follows, FIG. 8 showing the positions of thevarious switches when the door 27 is in its closed position:

To open door 27, SW-l is depressed and held to engage its contacts A-2and B-2, thus completing the circuit to motor M and solenoid S throughleads 62, 63, 65 and 66, whence the latch bolt 45 is Withdrawn from thelatch plate 41 and the forward windings of the motor M are activatedthrough SW-3 and lead 68 to cause the door 27 to open in the mannerheretofore explained. The accompanying movement of tang 50 as door 27opens causes SW-4 to close, one side of which completes the circuit toindicator lamps L-1 and L-2 through leads 60, 72, 70 and 71, while theother side of SW-4 sets up the circuit to the reverse windings of motorM through leads 67 and 69. As long as SW-1 is held depressed, the door27 continues to open until its lower edge contacts the switch arm SW-3aof SW-3, opening the latter and thus the circuit through lead 66, SW-4and lead 68 to the forward Windings of the motor M. SW-1 is thenreleased, the two lamps L1 and L-2 remaining lighted to indicate thedoor 27 is open. To close the latter, SW-l is simply depressed to engagethe contact B-3, whereby the circuit to the reverse windings of themotor M is closed through leads 62, 63 and 67, SW4 and lead 69, thelatter portion of this circuit, it will be remembered, having been setup by the closing of SW-4 upon disengagement of the tank 50 and theswitch arm SW-4a when door 27 opened. Hence door 27 moves towards itsclosed position, whence SW3 is reclosed by release of its switch armSW3a by door 27 to set up the circuit previously described to theforward windings of motor M, until the tang 50 again engages switch armSW-4a, thus opening SW4 and the circuits to the motor M and the lampsL-l and L2, the later indicating that the door has in fact closed. Atthe same instant, the latch bolt 45 having first been depressed by thebevelled edge 42, snaps upward into its aperture 48 in latch plate 41securing the door 27. If for some reason the vault should inadvertentlybe locked up with the door 27 left open, the switch SW-Z on the panelCP-Z outside the vault can be closed, which, it will be observed,accomplishes the same thing as the door closing circuit of SW-l sincethe latter is in parallel with SW-Z. As an alternative, SW-l can simplybe incorporated in the vault door itself so that as the latter is openedor closed SW-l is also activated to open or close the door 27 In theevent of a power failure, the door 27 may, as described above, be closedbut not opened from within the vault by means of the handwheel 38.

While the invention has been described in terms of a particularembodiment, being the best mode presently known of carrying out theinvention, and detailed descriptive language has been used, theinvention is not in fact so limited. Instead, the following claims areto be read as encompassing all modifications and adaptations of theinvention falling within the spirit and scope thereof.

I claim:

1. In a vault air valve assembly for mounting in the outer wall of abank vault or the like for supply of fresh air thereto, said assemblyincluding a housing having a rear wall with an air inlet therein, theimprovements in combination therewith comprising: a generally plate-likedoor disposed in said housing in face-to-face relation with said rearwall and selectively horizontally movable to an open position and to aclosed position to respectively open and close said air inlet by slidingmovement thereacross; friction reducing means mounting said door forsaid sliding movement, said means comprising horizontally disposedcylindrical ways in said housing and a plurality of cylindrical linearball bearings secured to said door and encompassing said ways, saidbearings permitting relatively friction-free linear movement of saiddoor along said ways; latch means operative in said door closed positionto maintain said door closed; and means for controlling movement of saiddoor along said ways, said means comprising an electric motor of thereversible, low torque type having forward and reverse windings, anelectrical solenoid for selectively releasing said latch means in orderto permit opening of said door, and an electrical control circuittherefor, said circuit including a normally open first switch having afirst circuit making member with first and second circuit makingpositions and a second circuit making member conjointly operated withsaid first circuit making member, said second circuit making memberbeing open when said first circuit member is open and in circuit makingposition in series with said solenoid when said first circuit makingmember is in its first circuit making position, a normally closed secondswitch in series with the first position of the circuit making member ofsaid first switch and the forward windings of said motor, a normallyclosed third switch in series with the second position of the circuitmaking member of said first switch and the reverse windings of saidmotor, said second and third switches being operatively associated withsaid door so that said second switch is open when said door is in itsfully open position and closed when said door is other than in its fullyclosed position and said third switch is open when said door is in itsfully closed position and closed when said door is in other than itsfully open position, the circuit making member of said first switch inthe first of its circuit making positions energizing the forwardwindings of said motor through said second switch to open said door andin its second circuit making position energizing the reverse windings ofsaid motor through said third switch to close said door, a normally openfourth switch in parallel with the second circuit making position of thefirst circuit making member of said first switch, said first switchbeing disposed for operation from within the vault and said fourthswitch being disposed for operation from outside the vault.

2. The assembly of claim 1 including a pair of indicator means inparallel with each other, one of said means being disposed for operationwithin the vault and the other being disposed for operation outside thevault; and a normally open fifth switch in series with said indicatormeans, said fifth switch being operatively associated with said door tobe closed to energize said indicator means when said door is in otherthan its fully closed position.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said door moving means includes agearbox operatively associated with said door and motor, said gearboxbeing capable of driving said motor when deactivated by said controlcircuit upon manuallyirnpelled opening movement of said door as well asbeing driven by said motor when activated by said control circuit, ahorizontal rack fixed to said door, a pinion gear engaging said rack anddriven by said motor.

4. The assembly of claim 3 including manual means disposed for operationfrom within the vault for manually rotating said pinion gear effectiveto move said door from its open to its closed position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,053,624 9/1936 Meunier et al10973 X 3,353,876 11/1967 Moyer 3086 3,237,933 3/1966 Grosswiller, Jr.,et al. 4928 2,633,010 3/1953 Stein 109-59 X 2,757,327 7/1956 Oliver49-28 X 3,161,449 12/1964 Flom 308-6 R X 3,237,547 3/1966 Strickland etal. 98-33 R X DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner P. C. KANNAN,Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 49-3 62

